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Hello [name].
Welcome to NEW FARM. A
few months back you signed up for this newsletter via the Straus
Communications web site. The newsletter highlights feature stories
just added to The New Farm web site, a non-profit site devoted to
providing information, inspiration and support to organic and sustainable
farmers. Enjoy.

Our Thanksgiving thanks to you: After
all the blithe, vague talk in recent weeks about moral values--which
has given me a mental rash I just can't seem to itch--the stories
in this issue of New Farm are a strong fresh breeze clearing out
the moral puffery. These farm profiles (and almost every profile
we've ever written, for that matter) demonstrate in so many different
ways the hope, joy, faith, humility and other enduring values that
motivate organic and sustainable farmers to keep their hands in
the soil and their hearts in their communities. The farm families
we meet and profile are creative, energetic, passionate and diverse.

All of us at New Farm and The Rodale Institute would like to give
thanks now for the privilege of meeting and writing about these
folks, whose stewardship of the land and vision for the future are
a constant inspiration to us. Thanks.

A turkey day PS: Almost
1,000 readers came looking for turkey information on The New Farm
web site in the past two weeks--and found our heritage turkey piece
from last year. (We know this because we have software that can
track the number of visits to a page, and show us the most visited
pages in a given time period.) It kind of shocked us, and made us
feel a bit remiss. So next year we pledge a NEW turkey production
piece. We may even run it in mid-summer, when it could actually
do you some good.

A special sneak preview for newsletter
subscribers: Two weeks ago I announced that in early
December we'd be launching the first version of our economic modeling
tool, which we've named FarmSelect™. We've
put the tool through its paces with a group of farmers, farm educators
and farm economists, made improvements in it, and now its ready
for testing by a wider audience. As a special benefit to loyal New
Farm readers, we're offering you an opportunity to check it out
and give us feedback, if you're inclined. Information on how to
get to FarmSelect is listed below.

So, what is FarmSelect? It's an easy-to-use tool that lets you
do side-by-side comparisons of the economics of organic versus conventional
management on your farm. In this first version, FarmSelect allows
you to compare the results from conventional and organic management
in one year for either corn or soybeans. All you do is enter your
zip code and field size. We use real-time cash prices, USDA county
yield averages, and real yields for organic crops to give you a
detailed report. But best of all, we let you add your own yields
and prices to get a better picture of the ecomics of your own farm.

... model multiple crops in multiple fields for a year, giving
you a picture of the whole-farm economics of the two systems.

... compare two organic crops side by side, or two whole organic
farms side by side.

... compare the economics of organic versus conventional in
very wet and very dry years. One of the pleasant surprises of
organic production: 24 years of research comparing organic and
conventional production have shown that in a field with at least
seven years of organic management, yields are significantly better
in organic systems in both dry and wet years!

Finally, before the end of 2005, you’ll be able to test out
a five year organic rotation to see how it performs over time economically,
compared with the conventional approach ... or another organic system.
If you like the results, you’ll even be able to print out
a financial plan you can take to your lender.

HERE'S HOW TO TAKE A LOOK AT FarmSelect:
All you have to do is click
here. You'll be asked for a user name and password.
Enter the following:

User name: preview.

Password: news.

If you have feedback to share with us--and
I certainly hope you do--send it to my attention at info@newfarm.org.

Enjoy!Chris Hill, Executive Editor

Flower machine: Can
this woman really be responsible for 20,000 bunches of cut flowers
a year?See below for more.

Andy Griffin's word for the week:
Don't take the fantasy out of farming ... but don't
check reason at the door, either.See below for more

High desert success. 3
acres of green gold in the Four Corners area.See below for more.

Garden of Eden? Lush
gardens and orchards arise from nothing in the desert of southern
Israel.See below for more.

Fresh
today from The New Farm®

ORGANIC IN
THE NEWS

JUST IN!

Researchers
are responding to the discovery of soybean rust in the USConventional management strategies for the new disease
introduction are being rapidly mobilized. Organic strategies should
be close behind says Iowa's organic specialist, Dr. Kathleen Delate.

Farming
for health and well-beingA community of caring individuals in the
Berkshire mountains of western Massachusetts discovers that farmwork
is therapy ... and healing is a two-way street.

At right: Steve, the garden manager at Gould Farm,
who says "A lot of times you’re
balancing what’s good for the people with what’s good
for the garden. You try to match it, but if you can't, you always
go with the people."

WEED
MANAGEMENTPlanting soybeans into rye, round
twoIn northwestern Minnesota, Robin Brekken,
Lee and Noreen Thomas and other organic farmers are working to perfect
a system for no-till planting soybeans into a standing rye cover.
Despite ongoing unpredictable weather, the strategy continues to
show promise.

At right: Robin Brekken demonstrates how weed-free
his crops were this year, despite poor weather.

Flowers
and fine olive oil in California’s Central Valley
Mike and Diane Madison sell 20,000 bunches of cut flowers a year
through direct market and retail. They also grow clementines and
high quality olives for oil. An innovative member arrangement—picking
olives in exchange for oil—allows them to avoid the headaches
and anxieties of being employers.

The
value (and the limits) of fantasy in any farming operation
For Andy Griffin, every season begins with a magic carpet ride
through those glossy agrictultural fantasies called seed catalogues.
Then, the fantasy meets the customer. Above:
Andy grows out someone else's fantasy--for a chef/customer who
brought back the artichoke seed from Sicily.

Rising from
nothing, desert idealists now work
amid water, orchards, gardens and fishAt Kibbutz Neot Smader, amazing agriculture
achievement is the byproduct of a community of transients dedicated
to learning from the land and each other.

ENTRY 10Good-bye.
Hello.One of our journaling interns lands in a new
world of geometric sustainability (i.e., a greenhouse operation)
while another says goodbye to Arkansas (and prepares for a new farming
experience in California).